Group: Faculty

Research Focus

Current Projects

■ Decision Guidance Management Systems.

■ Factory Optima: manufacturing service networks.

■ Decision Guidance for Renewable Energy.

■ Investment in Infrastructure Service Networks.

■ Resilience Power Markets.

Select Publications

■ Brodsky, A., et al. (2019). Factory optima: a web-based system for composition and analysis of manufacturing service networks based on a reusable model repository. International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, 32(3), 206-224.

■ Guodong, S., Brodsky, A., and Miller, R. (2018). Modeling and optimization of manufacturing process performance using Modelica graphical representation and process analytics formalism. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, 29(6), 1287-1301.

■ Mengash, H. and Brodsky, A. (2017). A group recommender for investment in microgrid renewable energy sources. Proc. 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

Research Focus

My research primarily focuses on the influence of managerial characteristics and governance mechanisms on financial reporting decisions. In a highly cited publication, my co-authors and myself investigated whether CFO characteristics are associated with accounting restatements. Recently my research work examines how governance control systems and managerial incentives influence corporate outcomes. My articles have been published in premier journals like the Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons and Journal of the American Taxation Association. I currently serve as an Associate Editor at a top ranking journal, Advances in Accounting and continue to work as an ad hoc reviewer for research conferences and multiple peer reviewed journals.

I am also the Director of the Investor Protection & Corporate Fraud Research Center which strives to provide thought leadership on investor protection and fraud risk by focusing on the role corporate governance, auditors, insider trading, management disclosures, and the legal and regulatory environment of business.

Current Projects

■ An examination of terminal Year of auditor-client relationship; with Keith Jones, Qiyang Lian and Joe Schroeder.

■ Do CEO risk preferences matter? Evidence from firm’s advertising and innovation efforts; with Amit Joshi and Gautham Vadakkepatt.

■ The consequences of reporting earnings strings for CEOs; with Jian Cao, Zhanel DeVides and Ki Kyung Song.

Select Publications

■ Aier, J.K. and Visvanathan, G. (2019). Auditor going concern opinions and FIN 48 reserves. Journal of Managerial Issues 31(4).

■ Aier, J.K. et al., (2014). Debtholders’ Demand for Conservatism: Evidence from changes in directors’ fiduciary duties. Journal of Accounting Research 52(5).

■ Aier, J.K. and Ohlson, J. (2009). On the analysis of firms and cashflows. Contemporary Accounting Research 26(4).

■ Aier, J.K. et al., (2005). The financial expertise of CFOs and accounting restatements. Accounting Horizons 19(3).

Research Focus

I am interested in conducting research that will provide a better understanding of the features of work organization that promote their agility (adaptability, resilience and effectiveness) in the face of complex and uncertain business, societal and environmental conditions. My approach focuses on the role of organizational leadership as this will serve to shape company culture, policies and practices. Among other things, I am particularly interested in how the latter can have effects on the well-being of the communities and countries in which the organization operates. I also study the need for and effectiveness of collaborative arrangements as these are used to promote adaptability in anticipation of, or resilience in reaction to, substantial business and community setbacks.

Current Projects

■ Promoting hospital resilience in the face of compound threats. This Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) supported research involves a project undertaken by a transdisciplinary team affiliated with the Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC) at Mason.

■ Addressing emerging threats or opportunities associated with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in society. This CCI supported program of activities involves several multidisciplinary teams working on applied research relative to the design and potential impact of hardware and software which has the potential to result in what is being termed “trustworthy AI”.

■ Shared senior leadership and the agile organization. This is a book in preparation which is designed to summarize what we know from research regarding the impact of the interpersonal and social dynamics involved in CEO/Top Management Team relationships as this affects and influences the likelihood of business continuity.

■ Promoting small business resilience.

Select Publications

■ Klimoski, R. (2016). Critical success factors for cyber security leaders. People and Strategy, 39, 1, 14-19.

■ Klimoski, R. and Murray, J. (2016). Cyber security leadership. In R. Dalal, L. Tetrick. S. Zaccaro (Eds.) The Psychological Dynamics of Cyber Security. Routledge (Taylor and Francis).

■ Klimoski, R. (2013). Leadership: Context matters. In M. Rumsey (Ed.) Oxford Handbook on Leadership. Oxford University Press.

■ Amos, B. and Klimoski, R. (2014). Courage: Making teamwork work well. Group and Organization Management, 39 (1) 110-117.

Research Focus

I am responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of innovative library services in the areas of reference, research, and instruction that support faculty and students within the fields of physical and life sciences and engineering/technology. I lead my team to integrate library faculty into STEM research and educational programs while fostering an environment that promotes development of new approaches to traditional library services. I am the library liaison for Environmental Science (ESP) and Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences (AOES) across university campuses, including instruction, reference and resource acquisition. My research focus on library services is to multidisciplinary institutes and research centers, including bibliometric analysis, collaboration and outreach.

Current Projects

■ Bibliometric methods, using citations as data, are an alternate way to learn from the literature of science and technology. These statistical methods are used, with visualization tools, to determine the relationship between authors and papers, scientific subjects reflected in publishing, and word or frequency occurrence. Bibliometrics are used by libraries to get a broad view of the growth, structure, connections and productivity of a discipline reflected in literature. This research studies trends and multidisciplinary connections across university researchers and campuses. With a strategic initiative from George Mason University (GMU) to become excellent in multidisciplinary research, Mason Libraries support multidisciplinary research activities. This study completes an analysis on bibliometric and funding across five centers at the GMU Science and Technology campus (SciTech) to understand research activities and interactions.

Select Publications

■ Hoffman, K., et.al. (2018). Scholarly connections: Leveraging citation data to highlight faculty research trends. Retrieved from http://mars.gmu.edu/ handle/1920/11111.

■ Mahapasuthanon, P., & Hoffman, K. (2019). Beyond bibliometrics: Understanding library services in multidisciplinary research. Retrieved from http://mars. gmu.edu/handle/1920/11419.

Research Focus

I have a specific interest in community ecology of insects. I study the relationship between the environment and community structure at various spatial and temporal scales. My students and I investigate variation in succession patterns, community compositions, etc. of carrion communities and native bee communities, and how these patterns are affected by environmental factors.

Current Projects

■ Ecology meets Forensic Entomology: how does carcass size influence carrion community dynamics?

■ Do flowering bee lawns affect bee community composition?

■ Changes in native bee community composition on agricultural and urban development scale

Select Publications

■ van der Ham, J. L. (2016). Permutation tests of hierarchical cluster analyses of carrion communities and their potential use in forensic entomology. Journal of Medical Entomology, 53(5), 1238-1241.

Research Focus

I apply an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the neural bases of memory and decision making with an emphasis on brain and cognitive development. I use genetic and pharmacological means to alter brain function and make anatomical, physiological, and behavioral assessments to link brain function to cognitive state. I collaborate with biologists at the Mason National Center for Biodefense and Infection Disease to study the impacts of viral infections on brain function cognitive ability. I also work with Mason mathematicians and physicists to apply machine learning algorithms to our electrophysiological signals from awake and behaving subjects and use these results to create unbiased computational models of how brain states relate to cognitive states.

Current Projects

■ Engineered transgenic mice that express mutated NMDA receptors to determine the separate contributions of calcium-mediated and calcium-independent signaling streams in synaptic plasticity and memory.

■ Perform in vivo electrophysiological recording in juvenile rats to understand how neural circuits operate to control spatial navigation.

■ Study tardigrades to understand the metabolic necessity for memory storage.

■ Perform molecular subcloning to create optogenetic actuators that can cross synapses.

Select Publications

■ Dumas, T.C., (2020). If Food Could Talk: Stories from Thirteen Precious Foods Endangered by Climate Change. KoehlerBooks.

■ Sanders, E. M., et al. (2018). Separate functional properties of NMDARs regulate distinct aspects of spatial cognition. Learning & Memory 25(6), 264-272.

■ McHail, D.G., Dumas, T.C. (2020) Hippocampal gamma rhythms during Y-maze navigation in the juvenile rat. Hippocampus. 30(5):505-525.

■ Zhou, S., et al. (2019) Aversive conditioning in the tardigrade, Dactylobiotus dispar. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition. 45(4):405-412.

Research Focus

I am a planetary scientist who studies the composition and evolution of planets and their atmospheres. My research has encompassed many of the planets and moons in our solar system, planets that orbit distant stars, as well as rogue planets that exist between the stars. I have participated in a variety of NASA rocket, space shuttle, satellite that study the Earth, as well as deep space robotic missions to other planets. More recently, I am a Science Team Member, and Mission Co-Investigator on the NASA/New Horizons Spacecraft Mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule.

Current Projects

■ The New Horizons spacecraft mission to the double planet system Pluto and Charon: the first reconnaissance of Pluto – a dwarf ice planet with a dynamic atmosphere and active geology

■ The New Horizons flyby of Ultima Thule and study of its surface chemistry: an encounter with the Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule, which is a primordial remnant from the birth of the solar system

■ Habitability of exoplanets – planets outside of our solar system: research on the factors that make planets habitable, or uninhabitable, for life as we understand life on Earth, as well as for life that might be much different from Earth life

■ Planetary atmospheric biomarkers of biological activity: research on the identification of observable characteristics that would indicate life on distant planets including Mars, Titan, and exoplanets

Select Publications

■ Trefil, J. & Summers, M. E. (2019). Imagined life: a speculative scientific journey among the exoplanets in search of intelligent aliens, ice creatures, and supergravity animals. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.

■ Summers, M. E., et al. (2019). Chemical models of Pluto’s atmosphere. In Pluto and Charon (pp. 391-434). Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press.

■ Summers, M. E., & Trefil, J. (2017). Exoplanets: diamond worlds, super earths, pulsar planets, and the new search for life beyond our solar system. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.

■ Cruikshank D. P., et al. (2019). Prebiotic chemistry of Pluto. Astrobiology, 19(7), 831-848.

Research Focus

I have worked on regional planning and development for 15 years and worked with rural communities in Tanzania, the United Kingdom, Belarus, and the United States. My primary focus is on rural sustainable development, policy implementation, and food tourism, specifically working with small businesses and communities in less advantaged areas.

Current Projects

■ Fulbright Research Scholar, Spring 2020, Minsk, Belarus

■ Examining public pedagogy, cultural memory, and tourism in a post-Charlottesville era

■ Building capacity for local sourcing within the National Park Service

■ Enhancing economic sustainability through agricultural and food based tourism in southwest Indian county

■ Women and Leisure in the 21st Century – An Evolving Paradigm – a book under contract in collaboration with L. J. Ingram, K. Tarkó and A. Beniwal

■ The Business of Sustainable Tourism Development and Management – a book under contract in collaboration with A. Aidoo and K. McMahon

■ Tourism Development in Post-Soviet Nations: From Communism to Capitalism – a book under contract in collaboration with V. Klitsounova

■ Neolocalism and Tourism: Understanding a Global Movement – a book under contract in collaboration with L. J. Ingram and C. T. Cavaliere

Select Publications

■ Slocum, S. L. & Curtis, K. R. (2018) Food and agricultural tourism theory and best practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

■ C. Kline et al. (Eds.). (2017). Craft beverages and tourism, volume 1: the rise of breweries and distilleries in the United States. New York, NY: Springer.

■ C. Kline et al. (Eds.). (2017). Craft beverages and tourism, volume 2: environmental, societal, and marketing implications. New York, NY: Springer.

■ Slocum, S. L. (2017). Operationalising both sustainability and neo-liberalism in protected areas: implications from the USA’s National Park Service’s evolving experiences and challenges. J Sustainable Tour, 25(12), 1848-1864.